Poetry: For Maggie 'O Sullivan

“this girl is raised on American punk rock bands” you said to me when we first sat down

in Pro Humanitate Institute where autumn eluded itself into an indoor limbo

in the name of public service, creating change, feminism, justice

and we used that name as an ingredient for talks of family traditions, family happenings, family feelings

family that we both escaped, family that we have just met

family called Wake Forest that we both barely knew, family in the vastness of Pennsylvania

family in a peninsula close to North Korea

family together, family apart

……

but family all the same, to you

& I was astonished

I was astonished by the gifts that you brought me ---

A sort of joy that demolished boundaries

while replacing biases with locality -----

snippets of musical notations that sang in unison

toward what made us all human enough to be in this room

together

I barely knew you then, but I felt safe

I felt family in your joyous tendencies of

family traditions, family happenings, family feelings

that you were eager to create with every single person in the room

even if they were silent, even if they were poison

“this girl is a strong feminist” you tapped your own shoulder before smiling

a big smile and I believe that peace can be weaponized

by somebody like you and I saw it, you were an arrow

that aimed at ending differences and compartmentalizing chaos ---

as the day wrapped up and instead of carnage, there was hope

there was a form of bombastic hope called Maggie O’ Sullivan

the opposite of sitting around and listening to American punk rock bands

is getting on stage

smashing the lead singer’s guitar

and writing your own songs

& that’s what you did with those encounters

those family traditions, family happenings, family feelings

family that was not yet family

family that still feels overdue now that you are gone

“I like music in general, it’s good vibes” you motioned at the stage on Manchester Quad

where I was getting ready to play a short piece dedicated to no one

but if I could bend time, and I believe, I really believe that I could

because you are still here with us, in the form of radicalism

an arrow that shot through the dark when the lights went out

before you could turn it back on

I would dedicate to you

the girl who gave me a building block of purpose

that I am just now feeling the weight of

you were peace, you were light

you were girl power

that brought me family traditions, family happenings, family feelings

to a place that barely felt like a family to me

I will remember you and renew those memories

With the momentum behind the arrow

In the direction of public service, feminism, justice

And they say you can’t see force, but you could observe it

In the consequences

So this poem is for you

You who brought us peace that we cannot touch, see, or hear

But could certainly feel